Leamington cafe to launch own record label

A Leamington café which has become a hotspot for live music in Warwickshire is launching its own record label on the back of its growing success.

Temperance, on Bath Street in the old town, was established by Adrian Gains in 2018 as a café and art gallery by day, and a bar and music venue by night.

It quickly established itself as a hub for creativity and a space to showcase local talent, expanding to National Theatre Live, film, spoken word and comedy nights, and serving great vegan food and drink, all sourced from local independent suppliers.

However, after the hospitality industry took a hit during Covid-19, Adrian was offered guidance from Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, and was eligible for support through Project Warwickshire – a free recovery and growth business support programme to help companies in the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the county, in the wake of the pandemic.

Working with Chamber business advisor Sarah Humphreys, Adrian was given one-to-one support and training to help raise the profile of the café, enhance his website, and market the range of eclectic events it hosts.

The site, which re-branded as a vegan café last year, has seen awareness of its events space boom – attracting artists close to home and as far away as Australia, as well as famous faces including ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist Steve Walwyn, Jo Boden from Bellowhead, Horace Panter from The Specials and Chris Difford from Squeeze. Former Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw is also a big fan.

He is now taking the next step to launch his own record label ‘Temperance Live’.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “We have a great technical set-up and superb sound engineer and our reputation is growing fast.

“We can now offer musicians the opportunity to record their amazing live performances and get them heard by a much wider audience.

“We’ll have live sessions released on platforms such as Bandcamp and will be selling CDs.

“We are keen to support up and coming musicians and already offer our venue as a free rehearsal space.  Now we can also record their music and help them get it played on radio.  Live music played to a live audience. We have waited a long time for that.

“Anybody who comes here always says the sound and acoustics are fantastic, and since we’ve been recording more and more musicians are wanting to play here.”

Adrian added: “The support has really helped with business challenges and issues post-Covid recovery.

“A website review helped us to identify areas we could improve on regarding discoverability of our events which we implemented, and also further marketing advice to help us get on the map of great venues to visit in Leamington.

“Running this kind of business is quite lonely, especially in the last few years, so to have somebody like Sarah just to talk to about things and offer her support has been a big help.”

Adrian bought his Grade-II listed building in 2016 and spent two years refurbishing it, with Covid presenting an opportunity to freshen up the look with a new PA system, seating and lighting.

He has 15 staff and retained all during the pandemic, and supports the local economy by offering all tickets sales of events to the artist, taking no commission on art sold in the café, and also charging no hanging fee.

Prior to Temperance, he worked as a management consultant and with charities based in London, but Adrian – who is originally from the West Midlands – now feels at home with his multi-use café venue, and even hopes to expand to other sites in the future.

Warwickshire County Council's Portfolio Holder for Economy & Place, Cllr Martin Watson, said: “Temperance is a fantastic independent local business in Warwickshire, and Adrian has shown real tenacity to transform what was largely a derelict site into something really special for the town and region.

“It is a really pleasing that Project Warwickshire, which Warwickshire County Council is proud to co-fund, has helped provide the support to help his business grow, and I would like to wish him the best of luck as he launches his new record label.”